A-road
A537 traffic and collisions
The A537 is an A-road of 20.3 miles, from Derbyshire to East Cheshire. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 73m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 9,859 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 16,252 A34 to A535
- HGV share 4.1% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −10.9% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 91 26.0 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A537?
On an average day in 2025, 9,859 vehicles passed each point on the A537, counting both directions. The busiest section is A34 to A535 (East Cheshire), with 16,252 a day; the quietest listed is A54 to Ecton Ave, Macclesfield, with 4,502.
Busiest sections, 2025
A34 to A535 carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A34 to A535 East Cheshire · 1.7 mi · HGVs 3.0% | 16,252 |
| Whirley Rd, Macclesfield to A34 East Cheshire · 3.2 mi · HGVs 4.1% | 13,692 |
| B5087 to Whirley Rd East Cheshire · 1.3 mi · HGVs 2.2% | 13,610 |
| Gough's Lane to B5085 East Cheshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 4.8% | 10,131 |
| A535 to Gough's Lane, Knutsford East Cheshire · 4.0 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 9,939 |
| Ecton Ave, Macclesfield to A523(T) East Cheshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 9,661 |
| A54 to Ecton Ave, Macclesfield Derbyshire, East Cheshire · 7.7 mi · HGVs 7.3% | 4,502 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Derbyshire to East Cheshire · 20.3 miles
A537 traffic and collisions by section
11 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A54 to Ecton Ave, MacclesfieldDerbyshire, East Cheshire | 4,502 | 18 |
| 2 | Ecton Ave, Macclesfield to A523(T)East Cheshire | 9,661 | 6 |
| 3 | A523(T) to A538East Cheshire | 27,134 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | A538ring to A538NEast Cheshire | 29,656 | 3 |
| 5 | A538 to B5087East Cheshire | 26,191 | fewer than 3 |
| 6 | B5087 to Whirley RdEast Cheshire | 13,610 | 12 |
| 7 | Whirley Rd, Macclesfield to A34East Cheshire | 13,692 | 12 |
| 8 | A34 to A535East Cheshire | 16,252 | 4 |
| 9 | A535 to Gough's Lane, KnutsfordEast Cheshire | 9,939 | 25 |
| 10 | Gough's Lane to B5085East Cheshire | 10,131 | fewer than 3 |
| 11 | B5085 to A50East Cheshire | 18,809 | 3 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A537 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A537 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.7% of the vehicle miles on the A537. HGVs account for 4.1%, rising to 7.3% on A54 to Ecton Ave, Macclesfield.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 6.5% |
| 2001 | 6.3% |
| 2002 | 7.2% |
| 2003 | 7.1% |
| 2004 | 6.8% |
| 2005 | 6.4% |
| 2006 | 6.5% |
| 2007 | 6.6% |
| 2008 | 6.1% |
| 2009 | 5.3% |
| 2010 | 5.3% |
| 2011 | 5.3% |
| 2012 | 5.7% |
| 2013 | 5.9% |
| 2014 | 5.9% |
| 2015 | 6.0% |
| 2016 | 5.5% |
| 2017 | 5.6% |
| 2018 | 5.7% |
| 2019 | 5.8% |
| 2020 | 6.9% |
| 2021 | 5.9% |
| 2022 | 5.1% |
| 2023 | 4.5% |
| 2024 | 4.5% |
| 2025 | 4.1% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A537 traffic trend
Traffic on the A537 came to 73 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 10.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.8% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 6.0% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 79m |
| 2001 | 82m |
| 2002 | 79m |
| 2003 | 80m |
| 2004 | 83m |
| 2005 | 80m |
| 2006 | 78m |
| 2007 | 76m |
| 2008 | 78m |
| 2009 | 77m |
| 2010 | 76m |
| 2011 | 77m |
| 2012 | 73m |
| 2013 | 74m |
| 2014 | 75m |
| 2015 | 76m |
| 2016 | 83m |
| 2017 | 81m |
| 2018 | 83m |
| 2019 | 82m |
| 2020 | 57m |
| 2021 | 65m |
| 2022 | 68m |
| 2023 | 72m |
| 2024 | 73m |
| 2025 | 73m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 10,500 |
| 2001 | 10,954 |
| 2002 | 10,510 |
| 2003 | 10,709 |
| 2004 | 11,147 |
| 2005 | 10,707 |
| 2006 | 10,428 |
| 2007 | 10,191 |
| 2008 | 10,460 |
| 2009 | 10,316 |
| 2010 | 10,161 |
| 2011 | 10,225 |
| 2012 | 9,810 |
| 2013 | 9,829 |
| 2014 | 10,059 |
| 2015 | 10,154 |
| 2016 | 11,117 |
| 2017 | 10,877 |
| 2018 | 11,056 |
| 2019 | 11,059 |
| 2020 | 7,662 |
| 2021 | 8,822 |
| 2022 | 9,105 |
| 2023 | 9,711 |
| 2024 | 9,832 |
| 2025 | 9,859 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years. In 2025, 4 of the 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A537 collisions
Police recorded 91 collisions with the A537 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 30 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 26.0 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 32.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 |
| 2022 | 20 |
| 2023 | 16 |
| 2024 | 13 |
| 2025 | 17 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Sections with the highest collision rates
Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| B5087 to Whirley Rd East Cheshire · 12 collisions | 35.5 |
| A535 to Gough's Lane, Knutsford East Cheshire · 25 collisions | 34.5 |
| A54 to Ecton Ave, Macclesfield Derbyshire, East Cheshire · 18 collisions | 32.8 |
| Whirley Rd, Macclesfield to A34 East Cheshire · 12 collisions | 15.6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 8 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A537 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A537
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Derbyshire
- East Cheshire
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 12 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 91 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.